KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The 2025 season was full of ups and downs for the Royals, but they ended the season with a winning record for the second straight year.
It was the club’s first set of back-to-back winning seasons since they won the A.L. pennant in 2014 and the World Series in 2015.
“We do feel like we’re in a window to win with the players that we have in place,” Royals GM J. J. Picollo told reporters on Tuesday. “The expectations are high. The standards are high.”
The Royals are a team with championship aspirations, so they’re disappointed to miss the playoffs. Even after delivering just their sixth winning season since 1995, the organization is far from satisfied.
“I would say we took a step back,” said manager Matt Quatraro.
This year’s group won 82 games, and the team hopes to build a consistent winner.
“That’s the goal,” said GM J.J. Picollo. “That’s what we’re trying to do; sustain winning over a long period of time. While we’re not playing in the playoffs this year, I think it’s something to build off of.”
At season’s end, the Royals had clear strengths and weaknesses. They had the sixth-best ERA in baseball but also had the fifth-lowest scoring offense in the league.
“There isn’t one thing where you hit the button and say, ‘Alright, we fixed this,’ and now we go on to win 100 games. We have to try to make tiny little incremental improvements in a ton of different areas and some of those are hard to find.”
The Royals received reliable offensive production from Bobby Witt, Jr., Salvador Perez, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Maikel Garcia this year, but the offense struggled around them. The Royals need more production – especially from their outfield – in 2026.
“We’re clearly not a team that’s going to bang 250 homers a year. That’s not who we are. We have Salvy and Vinnie that sit in the middle of our lineup. Around that, we have to be athletic in the field, athletic on the bases.”
While 2025 didn’t end the way the Royals wanted, the organization sees a winning foundation to build upon.
“Consistency is the ultimate goal for this organization,” Picollo said. “At least we can hold our heads high heading into next year thinking about ‘How do we get better? How do we build on this?’ It’s two winning seasons in a row, and we believe the start of many winning seasons in a row.”
The Royals return to action at Kauffman Stadium on March 30, 2026, for their home opener against the Minnesota Twins.
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